Hospital Visits
by toumeiillusion
Summary: The thing about waking up in a hospital, for the second time, was that it was still very disorienting. [Twelve Shots of Summer: Second Raid]


The first thing I felt when I woke up were hands, gentle and shaking hands. They were soft, just barely touching my skin, and focused on my face. It made a warm, light feeling bubble up in my chest and spread through my arms. I remembered this feeling. It was the same one that came when my father took me to the observatory when I was little. The same feeling that came when, in those rare moments, Bill was sweet and didn't aim to hurt me. And then came the pain.

It was everywhere, like it was leaking out of my body, but it was the most intense in my legs. It was like a burn, not the warmth from before. I couldn't handle it. A scream tore through my body and made me shake. It hurt. It hurt so much I couldn't think of anything but the pain. Someone was talking, promising that I would be okay and that it was going to be over soon. I could tell it wasn't the same person who was touching me so gently. It came from inside me, not outside.

Then I blacked out.

[-/o\\-]

The thing about waking up in a hospital, for the second time, was that it was still very disorienting. The white flowed in too strong and hurt my eyes. The ceiling when I looked up was unfamiliar and anything but comforting. The beeps from the machine I was plugged into were aggravating and constant. I wanted them to stop, not because of what that would mean but because it was making my head pound. In fact, everything was doing that, small soft sounds to the lights in the room.

I let out a groan and turned my head. I could feel the needles in me. I hated needles so much and I couldn't bear to see them. They were there the first time, too, when I woke up from that horrible week with no one around but the demon. I shuddered at the idea that it might happen again if I wasn't careful.

The door in the other side of the room clicked. I racked my brain, trying to think of what had happened and what excuses I could give whoever was coming in, a nurse or doctor, that didn't make me sound insane. The line between what weird things the townspeople of Gravity Falls knew about and what they couldn't fathom was thin and often hard to find when you could just barely feel your face. When I couldn't come up with anything, I just closed my eyes and waited for them to talk.

"Still sleeping, huh? I hope this isn't like last time… You… Are going to wake up, right?"

It wasn't a doctor or a nurse. That I was sure about. It was Dipper, and he sounded like hell. He was hoarse, like he'd been screaming at the top of his lungs for too long, and quiet. It had to hurt for him to talk. I wondered, for a second, if he'd made it out okay. I had barely been able to do anything against a monster that big, but I had to try to keep him alive. It was part of my deal.

I thought about telling him that I was already awake but froze up. He was stroking my hair with careful hands and the feeling I'd had was coming back. It was weird, not because it had never happened before but it wasn't really a common thing. He was loving, yes, but he was rarely bold enough to show it physically and when he was, it wasn't ever so gentle. I hoped that this wouldn't be followed by the sharp and all-consuming pain I had. This was a sweet moment and I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could when I was pretending to be asleep.

"I shouldn't have let you do that… I shouldn't have insisted we could handle something like that. You were right. We really are just stupid teenagers." Dipper gave a self-deprecating laugh that was followed by the sound of a chair scrapping across the floor. I was reminded that I had a horrible headache and tried not to flinch or cringe at the sound. I wasn't sure if he was looking at me and I didn't want to take the chance that he'd be upset about it. He'd probably been upset enough for a whole week, judging by how he sounded and how I felt.

His hand moved away from my head and was soon holding lightly onto my open hand. He ran circles on the back of my hand with his thumb and hummed. He was just close enough that I could smell something besides the typical scent of a clean hospital. It was a mix of pine needles, dirt, and, oddly enough, baby wipes. I almost cracked a smile.

"I think I'm going to take a break from the monsters, just for a little bit. You'll need the time to recover… A lot of time, probably. I can't do much with a cast on my leg either, but it's not like we only have the summer this time. Dad's talking about coming down here for a year or two," he said just above a whisper.

"So we'll have more time together… God, I'm so sorry, Grace." Dipper's voice broke with a sob and I, unable to handle it, squeezed his hand weakly and cracked my eyes open. He didn't look like he noticed I heard everything and if he did, it didn't matter to him. He only tried to wipe his eyes and gain what composure he could.

"Morning, Dippin' Dots."


End file.
